Posts Tagged ‘ black jeans color fade ’

There is nothing more perfect than a pair of great fitting black jeans. Dark, moody, slimming and oh so chic.

Although they are totally awesome, black jeans do require a special kind of love and attention to maintain their inky, saturated color.

There are a few preventative measures you can take to help maintain that midnight black shade:

Never wash black denim in warm or hot water, ALWAYS wash in COLD!

Instead of using regular detergent, use one designed for dark clothing (I like Woolite Darks).

Turn the jeans inside out when washing. When clothes rub against each other in the wash in can cause fading.

ALWAYS wash them on the gentle cycle and then hang them to dry. NEVER put them in the DRYER!

But, even with all this extra love those “perfect” black jeans can and will start to fade.

Over the years I have searched everywhere and tried EVERYTHING to regain my black jeans’ former glory, from dying them with RIT dye to soaking them in vinegar and laundering them in the freezer. None of them with the best results. I even had a retail clerk tell me NOT to wash my jeans EVER so that they won’t fade. Come on that’s ridiculous. Who isn’t going to ever wash their jeans.

The dying method hasn’t ever worked for me. The color is too uniform and flat, the shade of black just isn’t “right” and it looks too contrived, but I have a secret for getting natural looking results while restoring your dark denim back to it’s chic inky self, Coffee!

Yep that’s right coffee can dye black jeans! Once again this caffeinated wonder steps in to save the denim day!

Coffee and Jeans Please

You will need a bucket, some STRONG dark brew coffee (the darker the brew the darker it will dye your clothing), rubber gloves and a washing machine.

Brew up some caffeinated goodness. For one pair of jeans a pot of coffee is plenty.

Put the jeans in the bucket and pour the coffee over them. I have the haunting problem of my black jeans “wearing” on the inner thigh, because well friction lol, which results in that area becoming lighter than the rest of the jeans (its becomes a giant weird white spot down there) and this is the ONLY thing I have found that will fix it! I make sure to get that area extra extra soaked. The mixture will be hot so use a glove or a paint stick to move the jeans around gently until they are soaked. Let it sit overnight.

The next morning run them through the gentle cycle with NO detergent and hang to dry!

Repeat this as many times as necessary. It will gradually darken your jeans 2-3 shades each time you do this process.

Stylist’s Tip:Coffee can also be used to darken other black clothing that has started to fade. Just add 2 cups of coffee to your rinse cycle on cold and voila! Great for yoga pants, t-shirts, and other cottons.